It got a little nerve wracking, but goalie Jet Greaves came up big for the Blue Jackets to preserve a slim lead in a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 1 in front of 17,130 at Nationwide Arena.
Despite being outshot 16-2 after Blues center Nick Bjugstad cut their lead to 3-2 with 10:12 left in the third period, the Blue Jackets (7-4-0) eked out their fourth straight win, a season high, before leaving to face the New York Islanders (5-5-1) on Nov. 2 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York to finish their third straight back-to-back set.
“We didn’t necessarily like our style in the third period,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “We had to hang on a little bit. Teams are going to push, which they did, and we didn’t like how passive we were at the end, when we just let them come at us. So, we’ll correct some of that, and, obviously, Jet was real good.”
Zach Werenski led the way for the Jackets with two points on a goal and assist, matching his career high with goals in three straight games. Charlie Coyle and Sean Monahan scored the other two Columbus goals, while Greaves made 17 saves on 18 shots in the third period for a 37-save goaltending win.
Special teams played a key role for the Blue Jackets, who didn’t allow a goal on two St. Louis power plays and got Monahan’s goal to go 1 for 3 on their own power plays.
“It took everyone,” Werenski said, “our penalty kills, our power plays, Jet and everyone throughout our lineup, so it’s a big win for us. I feel like we can maybe be a little more aggressive in the thirds, when we have leads. I feel like we were on our heels a little bit there, but we got the job done and got the two points, so it’s important.”
Justin Faulk scored the first goal for the Blues (3-7-2), who started goalie Joel Hofer (32 saves).
After falling behind 1-0 early in the first on Faulk’s goal, the Jackets countered with three unanswered goals from Coyle in the first, Werenski in the second and Monahan in the third to build a 3-1 lead.
Werenski added a primary assist on Monahan’s power-play goal for a two-point game, while Monahan’s tally moved him to 600 points career points. The Blues didn’t roll over, though, pulling within 3-2 on a goal by Nick Bjugstad with 10:12 left in the third and then getting power play during the next shift by drawing an interference penalty on Ivan Provorov.
St. Louis got the scoring started just 3:37 into the game with Faulk’s goal off a wrist shot that beat Greaves under the blocker and inside the left post on the far side.
It took the Blue Jackets just 1:01 to tie it 1-1 on Coyle’s goal to continue his line’s success in a 6-3 victory Oct. 29 over the Toronto Maple Leafs. That’s how it stayed until the second, when Werenski gave the Jackets a 2-1 lead at 8:05 on his fourth goal of the season to push his goal streak to three straight games and tie his career high.
The Blue Jackets will now play the Islanders roughly 19 hours after defeating the Blues, traveling to face a rested team that last played Oct. 31 with a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.
“Points are important at this time of year,” Werenski said. “It’s early in the season, but I feel like last. year, if we’d have gotten more points early on, we would’ve been a playoff team. So, we’ll take the points. It’s been good in back-to-backs so far, and hopefully it’s good (against the Islanders).”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.socialÂ